There is no ‘bucket list’ - Lynne and I are both well, thank you – but we have arrived at a point in our lives where we have the time, the money and the good health to indulge in a passion for travel. We know how lucky and privileged we are to be able to do this, and we know it won’t last for ever, but while it does…..

Sunday, 27 November 2016

Hong Kong History Museum, Dim Sum and Mongkok: Part 5 of Hong Kong and Macau

Hong Kong History Museum

We last visited the Hong Kong History Museum over a
decade ago. Nothing in this city stands still, so a second visit seemed overdue.

With the weather showing a welcome improvement we set
off on the short walk, down Nathan road and past the end of Nanking Street. On our
first visit in 2004 we had stayed in Nanking Street so we detoured to see how
it looked now.

This area has seen no major changes, but alterations
have been incremental and continuous, so my 2016 photograph….

Nanking Street, Kowloon, Nov 2016

…shows a tidier scene and rather different scene from the 2004 version. Not
having the earlier photo with me I inadvertently stood 50m further back, but
this really is the same street.

Nanking Street, Kowloon, July 2001

Walking down Nathan Road and turning left into Austin
Road, we found the museum easily enough though the entrance eluded us for a
while.

Hong Kong History Museum

The museum was certainly larger and more comprehensive
than I remembered. Beautifully laid out with clear explanations in English
and Chinese, it started with the geology and prehistory of the area and then
traced the territories development from the first human arrivals to the present
day.

Stone tools found at Sai Kung (our destination
tomorrow) and elsewhere suggest the first inhabitants arrived some 30,000 years ago in the early
stone age.

Hong Kong became absorbed into the Chinese empire
during the Qin Dynasty (221-206 BC) but the grave goods on show were rather
more modest than the Qin Emperor’s Terracotta Army.

Grave goods, Hong Kong History Museum

In the 13th century the Mongol Invasion gradually
eroded the Song Dynasty’s grip on northern China until, in 1271, Kublai Khan proclaimed
himself first emperor of the Yuan Dynasty. The Southern Song survived until
1279 and for a time their capital was on Lantau Island, now part of Hong Kong.

We took a coffee break as we reached the Opium Wars
which resulted in Hong Kong becoming British in 1841, though they were far from
the British Empire’s finest hours.

Refreshed, we took a walk through the birth and growth
of the modern city, the Japanese occupation of 1941-5 and the return of Hong
Kong to China in 1997. ‘One country, two systems’ has worked reasonably well
since, though not as seamlessly as the Museum would like you to believe and
with Xi Jinping now effectively Chinese President for life and flirting with
the idea of a personality cult, the future looks troubled.

The museum covered politics, but also looked at the lives
of ordinary people with reconstructions of a port scene and a bank, tailor’s,
grocer’s and herbal medicine shops, a tea shop and a pawn shop among others.

Hong Kong History Museum

We had not expected to be spend three hours there, but
there was much to see and it is a model of what such a museum should be.Dim Sum on Nathan Road

We left in warm sunshine with the intention of having
a dim sum lunch and allowed ourselves to be captured by a tout on Nathan Road. Our
idea was not particularly novel for a Sunday lunchtime, but there was one table
available. The more people you have the more variety you can order and the
better dim sum becomes, but there were only two of us so we did our best ordering
steamed pork dumplings, prawn spring rolls, fried beef, cakes and custard buns.
I thought it was a lovely light lunch, though Lynne would later take issue with
my concept of ‘light’.

Dim Sum lunch, Nathan Road, Hong Kong

In the afternoon we walked north along Nathan Road….

Nathan Road, Yau Ma Tei, Hong Kong

…to Mongkok, a densely populated rectangle of land that
was once the most northerly point of urban Kowloon.

Mongkok Goldfish Market130,000 Filipinos live and work in Hong Kong - the territory’s
largest ethnic minority - and many, perhaps most, are women working as domestic
helps. All spare cash goes to their families back home so on their day off they need a cheap way to socialise. Many congregate around
the outer islands ferry terminal, spread blankets on the pavement, have a
picnic, chat and play cards. Not wishing to risk our lives crossing Mongkok Road
we used one of the linked the footbridges and found another place where they gather,
a large, friendly, unthreatening crowd. carefully leaving space for
those using the bridges for their intended purpose.

A little further north we left Nathan Road to walk
through the Goldfish Market. Aquariums are popular in Hong Kong and this is
where their denizens – and not just goldfish - are bought and sold. We walked
down the street looking at the fish in the shop window tanks…

Fish tank in a shop window, Goldfish Market, Monkgok

…and at other tanks which seemed inappropriate for
their non-fishy residents.

Terrapins, Goldfish Market, Mongkok

Many fish are sold in plastic bags hung on boards
outside the shops, like the fairground prizes of my youth, though a far greater
variety of species are subjected to this unnecessary indignity.

Aquarium fish sold in plastic bags, Goldfish Market, Mongkok

Mongkok Flower MarketThe Flower Market is a few streets further north and here,
at least, there are no problems with the welfare of the merchandise. Twisted bamboo…

Twisted bamboo, Flower Market, Mongkok

… pitcher plants, and more regular flowers and shrubs
were available in abundance.

Pitcher plants. Flower Market, Mongkok

I am not sure why we walked round Mongkok Stadium, a 7,000-seat
stadium shared by two of Honk Kong’s Premier League football clubs, to Boundary
Road. Until the New Territories were leased from China in 1898 this was where
Hong Kong stopped. Much of Kowloon’s extended urban area is technically in the New
Territories, but further north there are large rural areas.

Boundary Road, Mongkok, once the end of the world

Mongkok Bird MarketBeyond the stadium we
turned back south into the bird market. Cage birds have always been popular
throughout China and on those increasingly rare occasions you find yourself
among traditional-style housing, every front door will have a cage with songbird
hung over it, and elderly men will take their birds for an evening stroll in
the park.

Mongkok bird market

Neither of us liked the overcrowded
cages…

Overcrowded cages, Mongkok bird market

…or, indeed any birds in
cage, even the traditional style Chinese cages. So why had we come here?

Traditional Chinese birdcage, Mongkok bird market

After a long day and a
lot of walking we took the MTR back to our hotel.

Lynne was reluctant to go
out to eat in the evening after our big lunch – which was not quite how I saw it.
We compromised by sharing a single dish, though once we had picked a restaurant
and settled down she insisted on sweet and sour pork – pretty much like we get
at home. Grumpiness was displayed.

About Me

After teaching maths for thirty six years I discovered I was boring myself, never mind the poor unfortunate students, so I decided to retire. My wife retired at the same time, and this blog is the result……
Most of our travelling is in Europe and Asia, we prefer places where we don’t speak the language or, better still, read the alphabet.
We also travel in England and Wales, often (at least in my case) on foot, and many posts feature these walks.
Food and drink are important, too. We like to eat well and attempt to stick to the food of the country we are in. I’ll try pretty well anything and enjoy most of it.
I am a supporter of Amnesty International and believe it is important to travel with an open mind and open eyes.